"Brothers:—There are five gentlemen commissioners, appointed by the twelve United Colonies, at the grand council in Philadelphia; and the management of public affairs in the Indian department now belongs to them. These gentlemen have informed you of the nature of the dispute between Great Britain and this country; and testified their desire of keeping up the council fire between us.
"Brothers:—We know it is customary, at the renewal of any covenants between us, that a present should follow; we now make it known to you, that the goods you will receive of the commissioners of the twelve United Colonies are partly ours; we pay our proportionable part toward them, so that what you receive of them is from us also. We are the same. There is no distinction.
"Brothers:—If our memory do not fail us, we think that when we invited two or three of each of our brethren of the Six Nations to come down here, we also desired that you would acquaint us of what had passed in the congress held at Oswego (which as yet we know nothing of.) You say, indeed, you are glad we are peaceably inclined as well as Col. Johnson; but you have told us nothing else of what had passed there, which we had expected, and do wish that our brothers conceal nothing from us, especially as you called God to witness for the truth of what you said.
"Brothers of the Six Nations, and you, the Mohawks in particular:—We apprehend the bird Tsklelele has been busy again. He seems to be a mischievous bird, and ought not to be nourished or entertained. In your answer to the commissioners you addressed yourselves to the inhabitants of Albany, complaining that they had taken from you two pieces of land without giving you the value of a pipe of tobacco for them; and that you desired they would restore you to the peaceable possession of them, and that the commissioners would look into this matter and afford you relief. The land you speak of we suppose to be Ticonderoga.
"Brothers:—This is a matter foreign to the business we met upon, (and we are not authorised nor qualified to enter upon the subject, it is a business that belongs to the corporation of Albany) yet as we may be considered the representatives of the people at large, our entire silence may be construed into guilt of the heavy charge fixed upon us. For your satisfaction as well as of the audience, we will endeavor to show by a few remarks that the accusation is groundless. The lands alluded to are granted by the charter of Albany. We never heard that any of your nation have been dispossessed or driven off those lands; but you hitherto have and still enjoy those lands without the least interruption.
"Brothers:—As we observed before, the matter cannot properly come before us, but belongs to another body; and therefore the application to us is improper. However, give us leave to say, that, instead of complaining, we think the Mohawks, if they considered their own interest and that of their posterity, and would be candid, must acknowledge the truth of the fact, and rejoice at this day, that they have had such faithful guardians and trustees, for if it had not been so, who would have enjoyed those lands now? There have been complaints concerning this matter before, and inquiries into it before proper tribunals; and for your information, and that of the curious, we refer to the proceedings of the House of Assembly of this Colony, and also to the minutes taken on a conference between the corporation of this city and yourselves, at which Sir William Johnson was present, and therefore return you the belt."
After consultation, the Indians returned the following answer by Abraham, chief of the Mohawks:—
"Brothers of Albany:—We return you thanks for your speech, and that you have informed us that the twelve United Colonies by their commissioners, have opened all the roads; and we now take it for granted that the communications at Fort Stanwix are not to be shut up, and that the New England people never will do it. This, Brethren, has been the occasion of some anxiety in the minds of the Six Nations.
"Brothers of the Six Nations, attend; You also the people of Albany, and you the twelve United Colonies by your commissioners:—Last spring Col. Johnson informed us that the New England people were near him to take him prisoner. Upon which we, like people intoxicated, took up our guns and ran to assist him, as he was our superintendent. But, Brethren, as it happened in the manner before mentioned, we hope you will look upon it in that light. We, the Six Nations, have now made and renewed our ancient covenants. The proceedings just now mentioned have brought me down. I have made a proper acknowledgment to the Six Nations, and now do the same to you, and I hope you will raise me up again. The news I was just speaking of, came not from a bird, but from your own people.
"Brothers of Albany, farther attend:—I shall only make a short reply to your speech relating to the lands. Many agreeable things are therein. You farther say, that you never heard that any of us were driven from those lands. There is one thing which is not so agreeable. It is the Tskleleli. You, Brothers, know how that matter is, and in case I was to answer that part of your speech, it might perhaps draw us into an argument;—and as you are not, as you say, the proper body to which we ought to have applied, and as you have referred us to former proceedings, we shall close.